Run by The Trentonian's Nick Peruffo, this blog will provide daily multimedia coverage of the Trenton Thunder.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

News and notes from Day 3

I've got 40 videos to upload once I get back to the room, but the GMS wireless is misbehaving right now, so they'll have to wait. Instead, I can give you a few notes from the afternoon at the Himes Complex.

- Mark Newman said this afternoon that Mark Montgomery is not in the mix for the Trenton bullpen, meaning he's ticketed for Triple-A. I figured all along that he had earned a spot there based on his gangbusters performance with the Thunder, and it seems I got this one right. I mean, you'd have to figure they wouldn't hold back the organization's minor league Pitcher of the Year, would they?

- Shaeffer Hall threw one inning today in relief of Dellin Betances in the Triple-A game. Newman said he might be used out of the bullpen this year, which would create another hole in the Scranton rotation to potentially be filled by, say, Chien-Ming Wang, if his tryout goes well.

- Jeremy Bleich isn't sure, but he figures he's headed to Trenton to continue working out of the pen. That makes sense to me.

- Manny Banuelos was in camp today. He wasn't doing much of anything, but he was there. So that's something.

- Shane Brown, whose homer accounted for the only run Scranton got off of CC Sabathia on Wednesday, was sick today and stayed home. I believe Kevin Mahoney did the same.

- Gil Patterson and the coaching staff here have worked with Betances to shorten his stride and keep him from collapsing at the end of his delivery. He had a few blips in his game today, but for the most part he kept the ball down and threw quality strikes.

- Jose Campos is throwing pain-free, Nardi Contreras told me this morning, and it's a "coin-flip" as to whether he heads to Charleston or Tampa this season, though it sounds like they're leaning toward Charleston.

- Ramon Flores looks excellent. He was ripping balls to right field with some serious authority in the morning, and he used a magnificent inside-out swing to flip a single to left in the game against the Phillies. The young man has some serious bat control.